


Cloudless

by Bhelryss



Series: smile, it's sunrise [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24277711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bhelryss/pseuds/Bhelryss
Summary: a sunrise
Relationships: Belka | Beruka/Camilla
Series: smile, it's sunrise [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580782
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	Cloudless

Distractions had always made her job easier. Fools with their eyes where they were the least helpful were asking to be taken advantage of, quietly agreeing to their own assassinations. Distractions were helpful in their way, but also a bane. If she had ever been distracted herself, things would have likely fallen to pieces. A missed mark, unnoticed information, failure upon failure. 

It was not luck, but purposeful choice, that Beruka was dedicated, thorough, and capable of narrowing her focus to the point of a needle. She had never missed a mark, and she had never faltered, or been distracted. That was the way of her life. That  _ had _ been the way of her life. Purposeful, as sharp as a blade and just as plain, simple.

Her life is different now. There are fewer murders in the dark, fingers wrapped around a weapon, sharpened metal sinking true to its target. Her life is  _ complicated _ , full of more people every day and each new person as shocking as water sprinkled on a heated poker. It isn’t simple anymore, but she doesn’t feel regret.

Lady Camilla likes distractions. Once, Beruka would have considered it a great and exploitable weakness. And she would have been wrong. Lady Camilla...it is a great confusion sometimes, that a woman so strong can still be so…

There aren’t words that Beruka can find to finish that thought. It peters off into frustration, and she runs through finger stretches to try and ignore it.

But Lady Camilla likes distractions, and she likes sunrises. They’re rare events, sunrises. Nohr’s cloudy and dark skies had given her cover, during her life before Lady Camilla. She had struck quick and true, and the dim lightning had ever kept her hidden from the eyes of any witnesses. Sunlight, rare as it is, was something similar. Her dark clothing and her sharp weapons might be easy to spot, in that golden light, but people were ever stupid. Fools who kept their eyes on the sky were dead, and Beruka’s jobs were complete. 

Not so now. 

Sunrise, according to Selena, is overdue. She grumbles and whines, but sits somewhere facing east, and closes her eyes against the feeling of sun on her throat. Vulnerable, Beruka always notes, an easy target. So she keeps her own eyes open, and stands to Selena’s back, a statue immovable. Warmth might paint itself along the back of Beruka’s head, but her body is swathed in armor and her shoulders are further obscured by fabric on top of that armor, so that she feels nothing.

She feels nothing.

She feels...nothing.

Except, for when she stands guard for Lady Camilla. There is something different there, with Beruka’s back to hers, as the sun comes up and shines strong onto the back of Beruka’s head. Then it is different. Then Camilla turns, and beckons with her words, and Beruka comes like those words were gentle hooks in her ribs that reel her ever closer. She submits, because of course. Of course. There is no other option, not anymore.

“Sit with me,” a request, not an order. “Beruka, come, sit with me.”

She can’t help but listen. There is little logic here, but she still does it. No orders, but she sits, and she sits closely. The sun is blinding, so she instead turns her gaze to Camilla. Her hair in the sunlight...is so different. Beruka is detail-oriented, so she commits it to memory. The silver glowing amongst the purple, the gold lighting on her skin. Different.

Pleasing.

“Lady,” Beruka says, unable to turn her eyes away, “this is vulnerable.”

Glowing like a star, Camilla hums. “Is that so?” She turns slightly, and smiles at Beruka. It makes her chest feel...tight. “But you’re with me, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Lady Camilla, I am with you.” 

“My vulnerabilities are well cared for, then. Tell me, Beruka, do you find the sunrise beautiful?” She curls a lock of hair around her finger, and looks, and Beruka’s attention has never been on the sunlight.

“No.” Beruka glances over her shoulder, to reassure herself that her distraction is not jeopardizing her efficiency. “No, Lady Camilla.” Though it may be damning, “I find...beauty...in other things.” In another person. The person who makes her chest tight. She isn’t easy with her feelings, like anyone she’s ever known. Camilla knows that. 

“Those are kissing words, Beruka,” Camilla says, her smile small and teasing.

“As you say, Lady.”


End file.
